Ski holiday in Champagny en Vanoise Feb 2020

I always saw ‘winter sun’ holidays as being something involving the Canary Islands or such like. But with the winter we’ve had, I came to realise that even plonking your weary winter body 6000 feet up in the snowy mountains provided more than enough vitamin D to cheer up the winter blues. Our holiday certainly did the trick of topping up the cheer.

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Three Peaks Cyclocross 2018 – The “twenty” edition

As you may know, I’m a glass half full type. But we all have our limits.  Yesterday was a tough day. The Three Peaks Cyclocross is always tough. If it wasn’t, we’d just ride / run / walk faster until it becomes tough. It’s a flipping race. But then, yesterday had its own special place in my memory for extra toughness, but, significantly, extra satisfaction.  Continue reading “Three Peaks Cyclocross 2018 – The “twenty” edition”

Mini adventures and the spice of life

Parenting can be quite a drag sometimes. Asking young people to put phones away. Tidying up after young people. It could get quite a drag. But then, of course, you can sometimes subvert things – make use of these little people’s sense of adventure and fun – and go and create some memories.  You just need to remind yourself that it’s there to be harnessed. Continue reading “Mini adventures and the spice of life”

Careful on your holiday – our Kefalonia holiday

Kefalonia (or Cephalonia) formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia  (don’t ask – we’re just going with the first one). Chosen as our destination following a little bit of grumbling about the three France caravan holidays 2015, 2016, 2017 – and their associated journeys (it’s about the journey, not the destination, right?). Continue reading “Careful on your holiday – our Kefalonia holiday”

The Bob Graham Round

It’s been a long path to here. When I first heard about the Bob Graham Round in my teens, it was the type of thing that was simply something that other people did. Special kinds of rare people. An immense, fantasy-level tour of the most beautiful hills in the country. I started to do a bit of fell racing in my late teens and occasionally I met someone who knew someone who’d done it. Wow.  That’s all I could say. It was just incredible

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2017 Three Peaks Cyclocross – a family affair

A stellar year for the Haygarths

It’s a fixed date in my diary. My 20th start in the 3 Peaks Cyclocross was, like other years, just another year of ‘of course I’m doing the 3 Peaks‘.  But this year’s 3 Peaks stands out in a lovely way in that it not only saw the return to the race of my brother Phil after a 5 year absence, but the next generation of Haygarths took to the race. My nephew Matt was what I think was possibly the youngest of the 650 entrants and I was gushing uncle-pride when he’d entered … never mind actually competed. A real landmark for me. Continue reading “2017 Three Peaks Cyclocross – a family affair”